Rate My Professor Marco Ciarcia

Marco Ciarcià is an Associate Teaching Professor and Associate Department Head for Undergraduate Programs in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Colorado State University. With over two decades of professional experience across academia, industry, and government research, he earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University in 2008, with a thesis titled 'Optimal Starting Conditions for the Rendezvous Maneuver: Analytical and Computational Approach' under advisor Dr. Angelo Miele. He also holds a B.S. and M.S. in Aerospace Engineering (magna cum laude) from Università degli Studi di Palermo in 2001, with a thesis on 'Robust Control of Autonomous Aircraft for Surveillance'.

Prior to joining Colorado State University in August 2023, Dr. Ciarcià was an Assistant Professor at South Dakota State University from 2016 to 2023, Chief Research Engineer at Nanocomsat in Zurich from 2015 to 2016, NRC Research Associate at the Naval Postgraduate School from 2010 to 2014, Visiting Researcher at Rice University from 2009 to 2010, and Postdoctoral Fellow and Lecturer at Università degli Studi di Palermo from 2007 to 2010. He is co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of AeroFly LLC since 2021, an aerospace engineering company awarded multiple NASA SBIR contracts for eVTOL rotorcraft design, development, and testing. His research interests include robotics, mechatronics, nonlinear and optimal control, spacecraft guidance and proximity operations, eVTOL aircraft design, UAV systems, autonomous flight, small satellites, aircraft aerodynamics, and computational fluid dynamics. Key publications encompass 'Emulating Scaled Clohessy-Wiltshire Dynamics on an Air-Bearing Spacecraft Simulation Testbed' (Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, 2017), 'Fast and Near-Optimal Guidance for Docking to Uncontrolled Spacecraft' (Journal of Guidance, Control, and Dynamics, 2017), 'A Near-Optimal Guidance for Cooperative Docking Maneuvers' (Acta Astronautica, 2014), 'A DIC-UAV based displacement measurement technique for bridge field testing' (Engineering Structures, 2024), and a book chapter 'Best Initial Conditions for the Rendezvous Maneuver' (2009). He received the U.S. National Research Council Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship Award from 2010 to 2014 and has been an active member of the AIAA Guidance, Navigation, and Control Technical Committee since 2021. At Colorado State University, he teaches and develops courses in Mechatronics I and II, Machine Design, and Introduction to Aerospace Engineering, focusing on hands-on laboratory experiences in control theory, UAV systems, and robotics.